Giant White Sturgeon Caught in Fraser River British Columbia [Video]

A monster was caught in the Fraser River a few days ago. A monster Sturgeon that is. This fish weighed an estimated 1,100 pounds, and measured 12 feet, 4 inches. The Fraser River, a British Columbia waterway is famous for its large sturgeon fish. But white sturgeon are, on average, 30 to 100 pounds. Its believed that this fish is the biggest freshwater fish ever caught on rod and reel in North America, and quite possibly the oldest.

The fish was caught by angler Michael Snell, and his wife Margaret from Salisbury, England.

“I’ve been a professional guide on the Fraser for 25 years and I’ve never seen a sturgeon this big,” said Dean Werk, the owner and guide of Great River Fishing Adventures, who was the river guide on the couples fishing trip. “We have helped to collectively tag more than 47,000 white sturgeon since 1995, and scanned in excess of 90,000 tagged sturgeon that have been caught and released. This tells us this dinosaur fish hasn’t’ been caught in at least 18 years if ever at all. I’d bet she’s over 100 years old.” And with the size of the fish, this may very well be true. Sturgeons are thought of as a prehistoric species, a dinosaur fish indeed.

“It is the most excitement i’ve ever had with a fish,” says Snell, “it all happened so quickly. When we picked her head out of the water, it was almost three feet wide. I never knew a fish could be that large.” Snell took over 1 1/2 hours to land the fish against the shoreline, talk about a workout.

The world record swordfish is weighed at 1,182 pounds, the world record for a white sturgeon fish is 468 pounds, and was taken in Benicia, California. Unfortunately the monster sturgeon couldn’t be weighed, and its weight was estimated based on charts created by the Fraser River Conservation Society using girth and length measurements. The fish had a girth of 53 inches.

The Great River Fishing Adventures are a firm believer in conservation and preserving these incredible creatures, so the fish fish was released alive, and is now swimming happily along the Fraser River once more.

Giant White Sturgeon

A couple visiting from England angled one of the largest fish ever caught in North America on the Fraser River, in British Columbia. It was a 12 foot four inch Great White Sturgeon weighing 1,100 pounds. Michael & Margaret Snell of England caught likely the largest fresh water fish ever landed in North America with the help of Great River Fishing Adventure.

3 thoughts on “Giant White Sturgeon Caught in Fraser River British Columbia [Video]”

Theres no way it’s even close to 1100 pounds. 54 inches of girth is only slightly larger than a big human. At 12 feet long that would make this fish roughly the size of 2 very large men. 500 pounds tops. Sturgeon weights are always exaggerated.